Adobe Photoshop Express Editor review

The power of Photoshop in a sleek web app

Posted
2018-01-16T10:46:55.15Z

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Our Verdict

Adobe Photoshop Express Editor is an excellent browser-based image editor – well designed and packed with customizable tools. Unfortunately its format support is limited, and is built in Flash rather than HTML5, which restricts is appeal somewhat.

For

Well designed

Full-screen option

Against

Only supports JPG files

No direct social media sharing

Adobe Photoshop Express is an excellent free photo editor for desktops and mobile devices, and Adobe Photoshop Express Editor makes all of its tools available from the convenience of your web browser.

Adobe Photoshop Express Editor

It's well designed, and unlike Photoshop itself, everything's immediately accessible, even if you've never used a photo editor before.

There's no need to install any browser plugins; provided you have Flash installed, just upload a picture and you're ready to get started. Photoshop Express Editor only supports JPG files smaller than 16MP, and no wider than 8,191 pixels. The width limitation isn't expressed up front, which is a shame.

Some tools (including dodge and burn) are still in beta and we'd like to see more added in future, though the fact that Photoshop Express Editor is built in Flash rather than HTML5 makes us wonder how long Adobe intends to keep it updated.

User experience

Tools are split into two categories: Edit and Decorate. The first of these includes standard options like saturation adjustment, cropping, resizing and white balance. There are also some more advanced and unusual tools that you won't find in most online photo editors, including an excellent fill light option for reducing harsh shadows and an auto correct setting that suggests various quick adjustments to your image's colors, which you can apply with a single click.

The decorate option is less practical and more fun, offering a set of WhatsApp-style stickers for customizing your photos before sharing them on social media. You can't edit the text on decorations, but you can resize, reposition, rotate and adjust their opacity.

All edits are non-destructive, and you can revert to the original image any time.

Once you've finished, Photoshop Express Editor lets you save the edited photo to your device. The only format available is JPG, and it's a pity there's no option to send the file directly to Twitter or Facebook – particularly since the decorations seem to lend themselves to use on social media – but you can choose a file name and destination, and the editor lets you know the size of the exported file before you commit to saving it.